Thunderbirds Host Wolf Pack After Blowing 5-2 Lead in 7-6 OT Loss to Providence

Photo: The MassMutual Center during a Springfield Thunderbirds game, October 2025 (file photo). Quintin Soloviev, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

The Springfield Thunderbirds host the Hartford Wolf Pack at 3:05 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass., two days after blowing a three-goal lead in a 7-6 overtime loss to the Providence Bruins on the same ice. The T-Birds, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues, are 3-3-2-1 entering the game.

How Friday’s lead slipped away

Springfield led 3-1 after one period and 5-2 midway through the second on Friday, Oct. 30, according to the Thunderbirds’ game recap. Kale Kessy scored his first goal in 61 games as a T-Bird to tie it 1-1 at 2:20, and Nathan Walker scored twice in the first period, once on the power play. Oskar Sundqvist added the team’s league-leading fourth shorthanded goal 42 seconds into the second, and Jakub Stancl made it 5-2 at 14:03.

Providence then scored three times in the final six minutes of the second period. Ty Gallagher scored 43 seconds after Stancl’s goal, and Ivan Ivan and Brendan Gaunce converted power plays, Gaunce with two seconds left in the period, to tie it 5-5. Lukas Reichel gave the Bruins their first lead since early in the game at 9:27 of the third.

With goaltender Will Cranley pulled for an extra attacker, Walker was credited with the tying goal at 18:32, completing his second hat trick as a Thunderbird. T.J. Tynan assisted on it for his 700th career AHL point, in his 800th professional game. Ivan won it 11 seconds into overtime, finishing a rebound set up by Dans Locmelis, according to the Providence Bruins’ recap.

By the numbers

Source: Springfield Thunderbirds game recap, Oct. 30, 2026.

Providence outshot Springfield 41-30, and Bruins goalie Simon Zajicek made 24 saves, according to the Providence recap. The Bruins went 2-for-4 on the power play, while Springfield went 1-for-3 (TBR calculation from the Bruins’ penalty-kill figure of 2-for-3). Providence’s Mikey Eyssimont scored his 10th goal, making him the first AHL player to reach 10 this season.

The loss stung partly because Cranley had been one of Springfield’s steadiest players. Before Friday, he was 2-0-2 with a 1.22 goals-against average, according to a Yardbarker game preview and recap, and the Halonen goal 1:53 into the game was the first he had allowed in more than 60 minutes, per the team. He allowed seven Friday.

Sunday: Wolf Pack visit the Thunderdome

The Thunderbirds’ recap billed Sunday’s game as the first meeting of the season in the Braman I-91 Rivalry with Hartford, the New York Rangers’ AHL affiliate just down Interstate 91. Puck drop is 3:05 p.m. The Wolf Pack come in after a 2-0 win over Providence on Friday at Hartford’s PeoplesBank Arena, according to the Providence Bruins.

Springfield won its first meeting with Providence this season 2-0 and had beaten Charlotte 2-1 before Friday’s loss, according to Yardbarker. Roster news this week included the Blues recalling defenseman Theo Lindstein from Springfield on Oct. 30, according to the team’s news page.

Tickets are available through the Thunderbirds at SpringfieldThunderbirds.com or (413) 739-GOAL. For more New England hockey, see our coverage of BU’s sweep of Maine and Holy Cross hockey in Worcester.

Sources

• Springfield Thunderbirds: Bruins Outlast T-Birds in 7-6 OT Barnburner
• Providence Bruins: Ivan’s three-point night helps P-Bruins edge Thunderbirds in overtime
• Springfield Thunderbirds: News

Additional sources

• Yardbarker: AHL Game Recap, Ivan Wins It in Overtime as Providence Beats Springfield
• Hockey.com: Ivan scores in overtime as Bruins rally past Thunderbirds 7-6